Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/06/03

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: IMG: [Leica] Alastair and Hoppy meet up Episode two
From: grduprey at mchsi.com (grduprey@mchsi.com)
Date: Tue Jun 3 18:42:37 2008

Geoff,

Nice set of photos.  You got some good ones of Alastair and the models of 
course.  ;-D

Gene

-------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Geoff Hopkinson" <hoppyman@bigpond.net.au>
>
> 
> As promised the first twelve photos from Alastair and hoppy at the PMA show
> are in this gallery
> <http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman/k>
> http://tinyurl.com/4dsfx8
> 
> Alastair visited Brisbane with his lovely wife, Helen. Alastair and I had a
> very enjoyable afternoon and evening together in the LUG tradition.
> There were beers and Leicas, cameras, sushi and even Senoritas.
> We started with a leisurely lunch and, as the table became covered with M8s
> and lenses, I met, I think one of the first M8s to come to Aus.
> We went to the PMA photo and imaging show and had a splendid afternoon
> together.
> Leica was very well represented both by distributor and seller, Olympus had
> a superb and well organized display with plenty of new equipment to try as
> well as really knowledgeable and interested staff. Sony had a lot of
> equipment and a large staff, all of whom completely ignored us as we tried
> to look at their cameras. Hasselblad entertained Alastair for some time and
> made me feel positively economical with Leica prices vs. Hasselblad. Nikon
> and Canon were probably there, you'd have to ask someone that wanted to
> look! I'm sure I saw signs to their displays ;-) Eizo and their superb
> monitors had a large display and I think every single vendor seemed to use
> their monitors. So popular were they that their show discounted stock of
> their new 22 inch monitor sold out in two hours of the opening day, Well
> before the public got access. Epson was prominent. The new 2880 looks good,
> but not as good as discounted 3800s. After a long search we found a single
> small floor level cabinet with a handful of Fuji film. No information nor
> interest that I could see. I'm not sure why they bothered. Maybe something
> to do with the fact that their superb pro slide films cost six times as 
> much
> here as in New York, although we have near parity with our dollar.
> Apart from delicious rumours and some good deals mentioned by the Leica
> folks, the highlight of the show for me was an incident at the Olympus
> booth. Incidentally, they were really attentive, knowledgeable and helpful
> folks. I got to play with the near to release E520, which has a great Live
> view function and Alastair got good info on the E3 from a senior guy.
> But I digress. The funny moment for me was when three models hired to be
> camera test subjects strolled down and posed smiling for all. The crowd was
> riveted except for one guy I saw, and everyone happily seized the demo
> cameras and blazed away with smiles all around. Then I watched their faces
> as, one by one they realized that they were shooting with the supplied
> cameras. Can you see their problem? However, M8 shooters are made of 
> smarter
> material and of course I have tried to share these moments here. I just 
> love
> the Nikon guy in these, completely happy to have obtained a brochure on the
> new E520 and carefully reading the specs.
> A few more pics to come from me, and no doubt, Alastair will be attempting
> to embarrass me with posts of his own.
> 
> C&C welcome, as always
> 
> 
> Cheers
> Geoff
> http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman/e
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/gh/
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org
> [mailto:lug-bounces+hoppyman=bigpond.net.au@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
> Geoff Hopkinson
> Sent: Saturday, 31 May 2008 23:58
> To: 'Leica Users Group'
> Subject: [Leica] Alastair and Hoppy meet up Episode one
> 
> WARNING WARNING even more rampant speculation. May be disquieting to R
> owners.
> Today Alastair and I attended the PMA photo and imaging show which is as
> close as we get to a Photokina in Australia. We have a number of adventures
> to relate and pictures to share very soon. More show report to follow too.
> Naturally we spent time chatting with assorted Leica related 
> representatives
> and friendly sales folks.
> One of the retail folks admitted even wining and dining the R production
> manager in Solms only to obtain not a single word on any future products.
> His credibility we rated as likely to be very high and some attractive 
> deals
> were mentioned on various red badged items. You have to like a man with an
> MP slung over his shoulder, his personal camera, for shooting away at the
> show.
> We quizzed the friendly distributor guy expecting the cone of silence on
> matters R related. Parts of this conversation must be repeated to the best
> of our memories.
> LUG guy: will the new R camera use the existing R lenses?
> Leica guy: No
> LUG guy: It won't be 35mm sized?
> Leica guy: No the sensor will be too big
> 
> LUG guy to LUG guy: Did he just say that?! We could have the world scoop on
> this! I'm going to post this on the LUG right away and upset the R guys!!
> 
> Thirty minutes later we check back with our Leica guy who does deflate us
> somewhat by mentioning that this was entirely his guesswork. Rats! I much
> preferred the story from seller number two who took the R production 
> manager
> out for dinner and learnt nothing!
> 
> 
> Cheers
> Geoff
> http://www.pbase.com/hoppyman/e
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/gh/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information